-Rendon went 1-for-6 in his two games this week, with his only hit being a triple. He walked three times, and struck out twice.

-One interesting matchup to watch on Friday is the Rice vs Long Beach State matchup. Long Beach State will send Drew Gagnon to the mound against Rendon and the Rice offense. Gagnon was the 10th round pick for the Pirates in the 2008 draft, and is currently off to a good start in his junior year, with a 1.37 ERA in 19.2 innings over three starts, along with a 19:8 K/BB ratio.

-A quick note on Cole: one concern with college pitchers is overuse and high pitch counts, which could lead to future injuries. Even though Cole has pitched two complete games this season, his pitch count has been reasonable. His first complete game was only 104 pitches. His most recent one was 101 pitches.

-Matt Purke missed 15 days, then returned on Sunday to pitch six shutout innings. He will pitch this week on Saturday, as he makes his way back to starting on Friday nights.